Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016;46(1):31-6.
doi: 10.1159/000442021. Epub 2015 Nov 26.

Familial Aggregation and Co-Aggregation of Essential Tremor and Parkinson's Disease

Elan D Louis  1 , Lorraine Clark, Ruth Ottman
Affiliations

Familial Aggregation and Co-Aggregation of Essential Tremor and Parkinson's Disease

Elan D Louis et al. Neuroepidemiology. 2016.

Abstract

Background: Current data suggest that the 2 common tremor disorders, essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD), may be associated with one another. Familial aggregation studies allow one to further explore their relatedness.

Methods: Probands with ET (n = 110), PD (n = 130) or both ET and PD (n = 27) and control probands (n = 177) reported whether they had relatives with these diseases or with non-specific tremor.

Results: A greater proportion of ET probands than control probands reported relatives with ET (30.0 vs. 2.8%, p < 0.001), non-specific tremor (38.2 vs. 13.6%, p < 0.001) and both ET and PD in different relatives (6.4 vs. 0.6%, p = 0.004). A greater proportion of PD probands than control probands reported relatives with PD (20.0 vs. 8.5%, p = 0.003), ET (11.5 vs. 2.8%, p = 0.002) and both ET and PD in different relatives (6.9 vs. 0.6%, p = 0.002).

Conclusions: This study provides evidence for the aggregation of ET in ET families and PD in PD families, and the familial co-aggregation of ET and PD.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Benito-Leon J, Bermejo-Pareja F, Morales JM, Vega S, Molina JA. Prevalence of essential tremor in three elderly populations of central Spain. Mov Disord. 2003;18:389–394. - PubMed
    1. Louis ED, Ferreira JJ. How common is the most common adult movement disorder? Update on the worldwide prevalence of essential tremor. Mov Disord. 2010;25:534–541. - PubMed
    1. Cohen O, Pullman S, Jurewicz E, Watner D, Louis ED. Rest tremor in patients with essential tremor: prevalence, clinical correlates, and electrophysiologic characteristics. Arch Neurol. 2003;60:405–410. - PubMed
    1. Lance JW, Schwab RS, Peterson EA. Action tremor and the cogwheel phenomenon in Parkinson's disease. Brain. 1963;86:95–110. - PubMed
    1. Gasparini M, Bonifati V, Fabrizio E, Fabbrini G, Brusa L, Lenzi GL, Meco G. Frontal lobe dysfunction in essential tremor: a preliminary study. J Neurol. 2001;248:399–402. - PubMed

Publication types